So, John Terry was back in the news again this weekend, this time being stripped of the England captaincy ahead of his trial for allegedly racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. Reading between the lines of their statement on this, the FA are simultaneously trying to show that they take accusations of racism seriously, but that they also respect the legal conventions of a defendant being innocent until proven guilty. I argue that rather than coming across as being strong and proactive, the FA instead made a decision that makes it look weak and indecisive.
Before I progress any further it’s worth pointing out that I have no real allegiance to John Terry here. Certainly I’m not a Chelsea fan looking to stand in his corner. On the other hand though, I don’t think Terry’s good enough to get into the England XI and therefore for footballing reasons, I wouldn’t have him as England captain. All that interests me is seeing an appropriate decision being made in relation to John Terry’s immediate future with England- something which this latest move hasn’t done.
There were only two decisions that the FA could make. The first would be to work on the assumption that Terry is innocent until proven guilty. On that basis, no action should be taken against John Terry until after his trial, and the FA should continue to fully back their man. By stripping Terry of the captaincy but still keeping him in the squad, they’re creating the impression that they think Terry is guilty but are afraid to publicly admit so. This is hardly the way to deal with someone who’s meant to be treated as if he’s done nothing wrong - especially when you consider that Liverpool were unwavering in their support for Luis Suarez up until his racism-related FA hearing.
The only other approach that the FA could have taken would have been to drop Terry immediately from the England squad until after his trial. The FA rightly has to be seen to take a zero-tolerance stance towards racist incidences. But, in only taking away some of Terry’s privileges as an England player, the FA are making themselves out to be doing this half-heartedly. It is also worth noting the divisiveness that Terry’s presence might have within a racially mixed England squad, one of whose most senior members is the brother of Anton Ferdinand. Instead, all this FA decision does is suggest a malleable approach to their supposed zero-tolerance stance towards racism which in turn may destabilize the entire team.
In this instance, the FA had to make a clear decision but instead have made a move that on the one hand, shows an unwillingness to support their player, and on the other, suggests that they are uncertain on their zero-tolerance policy towards racism. For what it’s worth, I personally would have kept Terry as captain (as much as I wouldn’t want to). The FA has a duty to uphold legal conventions which in this case means treating Terry for now, as if he’s done nothing wrong. That said, I would have fully understood the FA if they had decided to drop Terry entirely given the severity of the accusations levelled against him. After all, a precedent had already been set with Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate not being considered for selection prior to their 2002 trial for assaulting an Asian student.
It was a tough decision for the FA but that’s what was needed – a real decision – not this half-baked thing that they’ve come up with. Either back your man fully, or don’t do so at all.
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